I Love This City

On Sunday, I had a startling realization. We are a third of the way through our time here. I personally, feel like I haven't even started the whole living in New York process. Well, we've done the essential things, like figure out where to shop and how to get around, but we haven't done many quintessential New York things. But we have had fun. I have pictures to show you of our Staten Island Ferry trip (very nice, especially once Adam got the baby to sleep), and for our anniversary, we went to a great little Indian restaurant (which is how Adam would prefer to be a tourist - just eat all the great food in a city) and Adam works right next to Times Square - so he feels like he's in the thick of things every day. Basically, I am not saying we haven't done anything, but I may be saying that I feel like we haven't done enough. So...Lydia and I are going to start doing things.

One evening last week Adam had to pick something up from the apartment of a guy in his program. So we went on a little family walk. I discovered that by cutting through the subway station, I could take an elevator to the top of the cliff that's in front of our apartment building. Huzzah! No stairs involved! Or at least fewer than if I go through the park. That was going to be a death march with a stroller. Anyway, on our little walk, we discovered what I think is one of the most beautiful parts of the city. It's high up, with views of the city and the river, and there's this park. So awesome. We walked and talked and looked and wished we had a camera and then finished out the night with ice cream from an ice cream truck. Doesn't get better than that. So today (or Monday - which might be today or might be yesterday, depending on when this posts), Lydia and I took a walk to that park. The one on top of the cliff. Coincidentally, the home of The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art - pretty much a really cool building put together from all these old medieval buildings that were going to get torn down, and the place now houses the Met's collection of medieval and renaissance art. I wanted to go and see it, maybe go inside (depending on how much I was going to be able to swallow my pride and pay less than the suggested donation). We walked around, Lydia slept, I took pictures, and it was generally gorgeous. This city knows how to do parks. I don't know if it's an East Coast thing, but I love parks here. Lots of shaded benches, tons of old and huge trees, beautiful (but not too manicured) flower beds, and perfect views in all directions. I feel like the parks that I'm used to (i.e. Utah parks) do big families and entertaining for kids parks, but not parks for the individual. And that's what Fort Tryon Park is. A park for the individual. For walking and sitting and thinking. It reminded me of parks in London, honestly.

I had a great time and felt like I had a nice New Yorky thing going on. Everyone was so nice, too. An old man sitting on a bench (not wearing much, I might add) said "Take it easy, honey. It's hot out," and then complained about the ice cream truck not being on time. A group of teens on their bikes came whizzing around a corner just as I was about to turn it. The leader called back - "Be Careful, Dudes. BABY!" And then everyone of them called out "BABY" to the ones behind and apologized for not seeing me sooner. So pretty. So - if you're ever on the north end of Manhattan, spend an afternoon in Fort Tryon Park and walk through the Heather Garden. Take a picnic and eat it on a nice shady bench. You'll like it.

Only damper on my day - the only entrance to the Cloisters I could find involved a flight of stairs. Doesn't that violate some sort of accessibility law? Only people who can walk (and don't have babies) can appreciate art, clearly.

Maybe I'll put pictures on this post tomorrow when I can use Adam's computer. Until then, sorry about the wall of text. Love you if you got this far.